Northumbria Police receives more than 700 emergency calls per day but around 75 per cent of these are no such thing

The Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service received 225 malicious calls between May and July and 646 special service calls, which covers everything from car crashes to cats stuck up trees.

The North East Ambulance Service receives more than 500 emergency calls a day. The number of hoax calls it receives increases during the school holidays.

It is expecting one of its busiest weekends, with bank holiday revellers at the coast getting injured in drink-fuelled fights or collapsing after too much booze.

Sgt Steve Pick, Northumbria Police control room supervisor, said: "We would never discourage the public from contacting us when necessary and ask them to ring 999 if a crime has been or is about to be committed, if there is an accident in which someone has been injured or if it is obviously an emergency situation. But I would encourage people to use 999 for emergencies only."

The following are just some of the strange and unnecessary 999 calls received by Northumbria Police:

Someone rang 999 and said they had lost their car keys. They were given a warning about inappropriate use of the system. Two minutes later the same person rang 999 again to let the operator know they had found their keys.

One woman dialled 999 because she couldn't get her central heating working.

People ring to ask for a taxi.

People have rung to ask if someone could put credit on their electricity card for them.

One man rang asking for a lift home from Alnwick.

Someone rang in the middle of a busy Saturday night to complain about the curry they had bought and to ask what the police were going to do about it.

A woman dialled 999 to say there was a seagull in her backyard which was looking ill.

One operator took a call from a man who sounded like he was suffering from a heart attack but it was because he was so frightened by the size of his Visa bill, he had decided to ring the police.

One woman rang to say she had had clothes stolen from her washing line three months earlier and her insurance company said she had to ring the police.

Calls have been received from people ringing to report a hedgehog their garden.

People ring to ask to be put through to a particular police extension or officer.

One man rang the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service because he was handcuffed to a bed.

The Humber Coastguard receives numerous calls from people who mistake distress flares for meteorite showers.

In Manchester police found they had been called by a parrot when they rushed to respond to an emergency telephone call.

A 31-year-old called 999 because she had accidentally sniffed deodorant.

A pensioner told a 999 crew to wait 40 minutes before taking her to hospital because she was baking a cake.

In Bristol, an ambulance crew was pelted with stones responding to a bogus call about a boy who had fallen downstairs.

One angry man called Avon and Somerset police because his wife had refused to cook dinner.